At only 23 years of age, and with just 3 original single releases in less than 2 years under his belt, fully-independent songwriter, producer, and singer Nathan Oswalt has earned his first “Top Christian” single with his most recent track, "WHO KNOWS".
The lone single that Oswalt has released to streaming services in 2024 so far, "WHO KNOWS" sent a small shockwave through the Christian music industry within hours of its April 19 arrival, when it was added to official Spotify playlists by NewReleaseToday (New Christian Music This Week 2024), Awakening... Read More At only 23 years of age, and with just 3 original single releases in less than 2 years under his belt, fully-independent songwriter, producer, and singer Nathan Oswalt has earned his first “Top Christian” single with his most recent track, "WHO KNOWS".
The lone single that Oswalt has released to streaming services in 2024 so far, "WHO KNOWS" sent a small shockwave through the Christian music industry within hours of its April 19 arrival, when it was added to official Spotify playlists by NewReleaseToday (New Christian Music This Week 2024), Awakening Events (Fresh Music Friday), and even the Gospel Music Association (GMA New Music Friday), despite Oswalt having only promoted the track directly to the former organization and JesusFreakHideout prior to its release date.
The track received an additional shoutout from Awakening Events on their Instagram page, and maintained a spot on the organization’s “Fresh Music Friday” Spotify playlist for almost a month after its streaming debut. Later on, in September of 2024, "WHO KNOWS" was featured by DREAM Label Group on their official “Top Christian” and “Worship Songs” Spotify playlists - becoming Oswalt’s first-ever single to be named a “Top Christian” track in any capacity.
In an interview with JesusFreakHideout’s Michael Weaver during the single’s initial promotional phase, the Vancouver, WA resident revealed that he took nearly six years to finish recording "WHO KNOWS" after first writing it in 2019, and also discussed his deeply intentional process of selecting the song’s release date:
“I intentionally set the release date exactly one week before [my sister’s] graduation from college…I also wanted to offer words of encouragement to all believers - in the U.S. during a heated election year, in Ukraine and the Middle East caught in the middle of devastating violence, and all around the world, no matter what storms they might be facing[.]”
Now - as the latter statement has recently adopted a significantly more literal meaning following the recent devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, and as sociopolitical tension continues to grow both nationwide and globally as Election Day draws ever nearer - Oswalt has launched a second wave of promotion for "WHO KNOWS" in the hopes of sharing a Christ-centered musical lifeline with a wider audience during such turbulent times.
Earlier in 2024, Oswalt issued his first interactive streaming challenge to his followers over Instagram, in a bid for his 2023 debut single "OUTRUN" to reach 1,000 Spotify streams. Just over one month later, the challenge, dubbed “OPERATION OUTRUN” by Oswalt, met its goal, and Oswalt plans to celebrate on Christmas Eve 2024 by unveiling the titles of two brand-new upcoming songs from his currently-in-development debut full-length album.
Now, Oswalt has issued a new streaming challenge - this time, centered around "WHO KNOWS" - on Instagram, with a “very special sneak peek” of one of those two tracks on New Year’s Day 2025 serving as the incentive.
Oswalt began the post by reflecting on his journey of releasing original music so far, and expressing gratitude to God for the unexpected success that "WHO KNOWS" has already achieved in just under seven months since its release. After jokingly asserting that his newfound hit song has received “the least amount of streams ever for a supposedly ‘Top Christian’ track”, Oswalt disclosed all the details of the new streaming challenge, and concluded by thanking his followers for their support and encouraging them to “spread the word”, while also hinting that “new music might be coming sooner than you think”.
Christian alternative-pop artist Nathan Oswalt recently announced that his debut full-length studio album (title and release date TBD) is currently in the works. The 23-year-old singer, songwriter, producer, and aspiring…
